Love's Ghost
by KeeSu
Summary: Bella is a normal girl who falls for the perfect guy. Edward and the rest of the Cullens are still vampires but there is a twist . I SUCK at summaries!
1. The Nightmare

I stood there, watching as they closed in, heading straight towards me – towards us. The creatures in their dark, hooded cloaks with hidden faces. Their throatily growls building with every inch gained in my – in our direction. I looked at another cloaked figure. A stranger to me and yet I knew them, knew him. Their face, too, was hidden yet I could feel in my heart that it was a he, that he was a friend. The stranger looked in my direction, then at them. They were frighteningly close to us now – to him. The stranger friend was a few feet from me and our advancers were clearly more interested in him than me. This should have calmed me, but infact, did the opposite. My heart was racing, my palms sweating, my eyes tearing. Their forms crouched, poised to lunge at him. Everything turned into slow motion. They tensed, ready to release themselves and spring. 'NO!' I screamed and dove in front of the stranger.

My eyes shot open. Led in my bed I was panting and covered in sweat. This was getting ridiculous. Stupid nightmare! Why wouldn't it leave me alone? It should have stopped by now. It had been two months since my move to Forks to live with my dad, Charlie. On my fourth day here, the dreams started. I didn't know the trigger. All that I had done since I'd moved to this little known, small town was start school. The dreams were always the same… Some stranger in danger I was compelled to protect. Why? Who was he? I sighed, regaining my natural breathing pattern and control of my erratic heart beat. A glance at the clock on my bedside table told me it was ok to get up. It had gone six so Charlie would assume I was getting ready for school – no questions. This encouraged me to flex the muscles in my arms and legs, pull the duvet off me, collect together some clothes for the day and head to the only bathroom in the house.

I stood under the running water remembering my first week here. Charlie was so pleased to have me here, though would never admit to it. It had been to long since he had seen me, and then, here I was, bags packed and ready to move back into my old room. Remembering his expression bought a smile to my face even now. 'Chalire' I sighed and shook my head. A few days later, I had the first of my nightmares. I hadn't bothered to check the clock, just wanting to get rid of the sweat. Heading back towards my room after a shower, Charlie had stopped me. 'Bells?'

'Yeah Cha… I mean Dad. It's me sorry to wake you. What time is it?'

'Nearly three in the morning. Why you up and showered? You ok?'

'Yeah Dad, I'm fine. Just got hot and needed to shower is all. Sorry.'

'S'ok Bells. As long as you're ok. I'll see you in the morning… Or later I guess'. He shuffled back to his room. One good thing about Charlie, he doesn't pry. The shower was heating up now; I didn't want the warmth, so turned the cold facet up. After I decided it wasn't doing anything but giving me goose bumps, I got out, dried myself and got dressed. I looked in the mirror, my brown eyes stared back at my under a tangled brown mess that was my hair. Sighing as I realised the times I had seen this image in the last few weeks once again increased by one, I grabbed my brush and pulled through the knots. My hair looked better – marginally but I couldn't be bothered to do more with it. Besides, it was raining – again – so no point in investing time in something that was going to get destroyed. I tiptoed down the stairs, trying not to wake Charlie, and hunted down breakfast. Cereal would do, something quick and simple. _Friday _I thought and smiled. I could hear Charlie groan as he woke. The floor boards protested underneath him as he moved around to get dressed. He came into the kitchen and sat down. 'Morning Bells. Can I get some of that?'. I smiled and passed him a bowl, emptied the remainder of the cereal into it and added milk. 'Thanks' a smiling Charlie said to me

'Don't worry about it Char… I mean dad. I'm going, I'll see you later'

'It's only just half seven Bells'. Aw crap… I couldn't stay there.

'I know dad, but I got to, err, get there early to ask my biology teacher something. Home work stuff you know?' WHAT? That was the WORST excuse ever! Thankfully, Charlie didn't really care and just wished me a good day. I ran from the house into my truck, fired up the engine and headed in the schools direction.


	2. Them

**Hey Guys! I forgot to do this last time. Please review. I'm sorry that this is such a slow-started, but I haven't quite worked out how to get to where I want to be. So please bear with me!**

I pulled into my usual parking space. Out of habit more than anything really. I could have pulled anywhere. The lot was empty, due no doubt to the fact that I was half an hour early. Only the teachers were here and they had their own spaces. After cutting the engine, I tuned my ancient stereo into the first station I could find. The song was unfamiliar but I was beyond caring, just grateful for some background noise other than the thrumming of rain on my trucks frame.

I lent my head back on the seat and breathed deeply, the dream still in the still in the front of my mind. Breathing exercises were my attempt to deal with it, or at least push it to the back of my mind. School was enough of an ordeal at the moment, me still being the freaky, new kid. Don't get me wrong, I had a few friends. Jessica is a girl in most of my classes, Mike was in gym, but Angela was sort of my best friend. She was a sweet girl. Very quiet, smart and, most noticeably, tall. She towered over my mere 5 foot 5".

My mind drifted in and out like this for a while. It made me jump when the first cars started to arrive and pull into the spots around me. I turned of the stereo, grabbed my bag and got out of the cab. At least being first here meant no one would stare when my trucks deafening engine idled in the few seconds before I could cut it.

I quickly made my way through the rain and into the school, my mind still drifting. I had to stop myself falling flat on my face when I slipped on the wet, stone steps. Thankfully, everyone had the same idea as me – get into the school before getting drenched – so didn't notice my clumsiness. The school halls were filling quickly. I made my way to the girls' room to look into the mirror.

My appearance didn't bother me, but having had a shower and being in the rain, my hair was dripping now. Leaning over the sink, I did my best to wring it out. It didn't look so bad. Wet – obviously, but led on my shoulders no different than it had after I brushed it earlier.

I left the bathroom and spotted Jess, Mike, Ben and Angela just coming into the building. They spotted me too and started to make their way to me. 'Hey, Bella!'

'Hey Jess. You all ok?'

'Yeah, we're good. Mike gave us all a ride in.', it was incredible that Mike was oblivious to Jess' feelings for him. 'Sorry we didn't ask you. We did ring your place, but there was no reply…'

'Oh. Don't worry about it. I was up early and my dad must have left for work when you called.' I made a point of avoiding the reason as to why I was up early, not wanting to lose my few friends with them assuming I was insane.

We made our way through the halls. Gradually losing each other as we separated to head for our own classes. Angela was the only one still walking with me after half a minute. We both had English first, which was comforting. I enjoyed my classes with Angela.

The morning went quickly and it was soon time for lunch. The five of us were reunited as we stood in the lunch line. Not feeling particularly hungry, I grabbed a soda and an apple. The others looked at my selection but said nothing. We made our way to our usual lunch table. As usual, I glanced over to the table at the far side of the canteen. They were all there, all five of them. Five students always sat together. Five trays of untouched food lay on the table, one for each of them. They never appeared to talk to – or even look at each other for more than a few sentences. I'd watched them wondering for two months – I thought I'd waited long enough to ask without seeming rude or too interested. I turned to Jessica; she seemed the one who'd know the most. 'Jess? Who are they?'

'Who?', She followed my gaze 'Oh, them? They're Dr and Mrs Cullen's foster kids'.


	3. Eyes

**Ok guys, here's the next chapter, it's still going slow**** and I'm sorry it's so short, but I still have a few decisions to make about a few finer details and ran out of time before revision. PLEASE review!**

'There's Alice, Emmett and Edward Cullen and Jasper and Rosalie Hale. Alice is with Jasper and Rosalie is with Emmett.' Jess' tone seemed annoyed by this. No, annoyed was the wrong word, distressed maybe?

'Jess! They're not ACCTUALLY related!' Angela's statement cleared up the confusion.

'I know, but they LIVE together! It's weird!' At that moment they all looked at us and burst into laughter.

Well, that was awkward! There's no way they could have heard our little exchange. What was so funny to them? Four of them suddenly rose from their seats and left through the glass door leading into the school yard. Only one of the boys remained.

He wasn't the broadest of the three guys, but wasn't the slightest of them either. His hair was styled in an organised but wild way. 'That's Edward' Jess giggled 'He's gorgeous right?' I couldn't answer. Mostly because I could hardly hear her. But also because I was trapped in the boy's – in Edward's eyes.

They were amazing, what I could see from the distance I was sat from him anyway. I wanted to move closer. To see every shade of gold in his eyes. He looked away and I was released. I hadn't noticed it happening but I was standing.

'Going somewhere Bells?' My nickname made me flinch and I looked for the source. The whole table was looking at me, a mix of confusion and questioning apparent on their faces.

'Well?' It was mike. What could I say? _Oh, yeah! Sorry guys! I was just lost in Edward Cullen's eyes and was subconsciously making my way over to him to stare deeper in to them. _No that didn't seem like a good idea. If I wanted my friend's to keep thinking I was sane anyway. I took my seat again but their gazes made it clear the topic of my behaviour was not going to be dropped.

'No. Not going anywhere, just, err, had cramp in my leg.' Damn I was such a bad liar. Clearly none of them believed that and I didn't blame them. Luckily the bell rang. I risked a glance in Edward's direction but he had already left. We all gathered our stuff, dumped the rubbish off our lunch trays (in my case my whole lunch, I hadn't touched my apple or soda) and headed off, once again, to class.

Ben, Angela and I entered our biology class. Everyone was stood, chattering along the back wall of the room. Oh great, lab partner day! We joined the rest of the class. What now? Angela would pair up with Ben, she seriously liked the guy! This would be a replay of gym when soccer teams had to be picked. Me, the only one still standing, waiting to be selected. _Sigh_.

'Ok, everyone! Pair up and choose a lab station!' our teacher Mr Banner yelled from the front of the class. Everyone moved quickly, picking their partners and taking a seat at a station. 'Miss Swan! Mr Cullen! You're the only ones left. Please both take a seat at the remaining lab station so we can begin.' Wait. WHAT? Mr _CULLEN!_ I walked to the station and took my seat next to my new lab partner. It was him. It was Edward.


	4. Lab Partners

**Ok guys, here's the next chapter****. Please review!**

How had I not noticed him in my class before? I've been secretly obsessed with him and the rest of his, I now knew, family at lunch I wouldn't have missed him. I felt awkward as I sat next to him, taking down notes for next lessons lab. He knew I'd been looking at him at lunch. His eyes were linked with mine for what felt like an eternity – although, it still hadn't been enough time. I peeked over at him and saw his was looking out the window, tipping casually in his chair. When I took a peek at his notes, I saw he had already copied everything from the board, including a perfect diagram that looked more like a sketch. I stared at my own scribble – I still had two lines of instructions to copy and a labelled diagram to draw. Damn, he was fast!

He glanced over at me and smiled. I returned the gesture weakly and turned away as my cheeks started to glow red. He'd caught me looking at him twice now. In the same day! Mr Banner called the class to attention. He told us to spend the rest of the class planning with our lab partners. I suddenly felt nervous but wasn't sure why.

'Hello Bell' I jumped at the voice saying my name. It was unfamiliar. Then I remembered that I had never actually heard Edward speak, so turned to him. He was smiling again, confirming it was him talking to me. 'I'm Edward Cullen. Sorry you've got stuck with me as a lab partner'

'How do you know my name?' what a stupid question. Sure I was the new girl, but I had been here a while now.

'There was an article about you in the school paper after your first day' he replied. Crap! I thought I'd managed to round up every copy in existence. Angela had given me the heads up. Well, actually she hadn't meant to. She was telling me how much she was looking forward to reading about me. I'd gotten up really early to be first to school. Edward cleared his throat, bringing me back to reality. I must have looked mad staring into thin air.

'Sorry. Umm, I've never seen you in class before…' I prompted. I _knew_ he wasn't normally here.

'No. I'm usually in the other biology class. I had my class this morning. We all had to pair up too but the class turned out to be an odd number so I was left out. My teacher checked this class and it turned out, this one was odd as well. Luckily, my free periods collide with this class, so I just switched.' His explanation was simple enough. The long 'speech' gave me time to really listen to his voice. It was almost hypnotising and sounded like liquid velvet. His voice was almost as intoxicating as his eyes. Lunch caught up with me. How I wanted to be closer to him to see them properly. As gorgeous I thought they were from across the canteen, now I was closer to him. They were more memorising than anyone could have imagined.

'Oh' was my genius response. 'So, this lab next week…'

The lesson went quickly. Much too quickly. I was comforted knowing I had the whole school year to get to know him – to get lost in his golden eyes. I packed up my things and made my way to the parking lot. This morning I had been happy it was Friday, But now I felt deflated. Not being able to see Edward for the whole weekend. I inwardly groaned. _C'mon Bella! Get a grip, he's just a GUY!_ I knew I was being stupid. There was no reason for me to be obsessing over him so much. It was a weird feeling. I wanted to be near him, to see him. I was so caught up in my thoughts; I tripped on the same step as this morning. This time, my fall wasn't so inconspicuous. My face was about to make contact with the ground. I closed my eyes and braced myself. But the collision and the pain never came. I became away of something around my waist and heard a chuckle. Opening my eyes as someone helped me become vertical again, I saw who it was that caught me.

'You should be more careful you know. One day, I might not be here to catch you' Edward said, still chuckling.

'Thanks'. He made sure I had my balance before releasing me.

'But seriously. I can't have my new lab partner in hospital' he was still smiling, but at least he'd stopped laughing.

'Sorry' I wasn't sure why I was apologising, but it was kind of a habit of mine. 'Thanks again. See you Monday' I smiled back at him and then turned back to the direction of my truck. I sat in the cab for a few minutes to calm down. This seemed like a good thing to do before I attempted to drive. I backed out of the space, shifted gear and headed towards home.

**Sorry it's short again but I have exams going on at the moment! Please review!**


	5. Day Trip

**Hey Guys! Sorry this update has took sooo long! Had a few mishaps and a few broken bones. Hope that you're still interested in this story and please review!**

I woke up on Saturday in a daze. Last night had gone so slowly, I thought it was never going to end. At least I had a restful night. No nightmare. I tried to think about what time I'd gone to sleep, it couldn't have been late. I got up, got dressed and headed down to the kitchen. I felt hungry but didn't feel like anything big or fancy for breakfast, so made do with cereal. Charlie wasn't here. He'd said he was going to head out early to go fishing with his friend Billy Black, so I thought nothing of it. I noticed a note attached to the fridge.

_Bella, _it was Charlie's handwriting. Not that that surprised me, it was just strange for Charlie to leave me notes:

_Your friend Angela called last night. I called you but you were already asleep, so I told her I'd get you to call her in the morning. She said something about a day out to La Push today. If you go call in on Jacob - you haven't seen him since he bought your truck over the day you arrived._

Huh, it wasn't normal for Charlie to make requests in my phone messages - and I'd been asleep when Angela called? It must have been earlier than I thought when I drifted off. I checked the clock to make sure it was an ok hour to call some one. It was eight thirty… I'd slept right through the night. I picked up the phone and dialled Angela's number:

'Hello?'

'Hey, Angela?' it didn't sound like her, so I wasn't surprised by the response.

'Oh, no sweetie, it's Angela's mom. I'll just get her for you, ok?'

'Ok, thanks'

'Who is it calling?' she sounded embarrassed to ask, which made me smile. It reminded me of Renee.

'It's Bella, Bella Swan'

'Ok Bella, one moment' I could hear her call her daughter and shout my name. The stairs - I'm guessing - creaked as someone ran down them.

'Thanks mom, hey Bella'

'Hey Angela. Sorry, I just got the message that you called. I fell asleep early yesterday.'

'That's ok Bella. I hope you're not sick or anything' this also made me smile. Angela was unnaturally kind hearted.

'No, I'm fine. I was just tired' I reassured her.

'Ok, I'm glad. I called because some of us from school are going down to La Push. Do you want to come?' Stupidly, this surprised me. Charlie had told me, well, wrote me this. I should have thought this through before calling Angela back. Although, a day out may make today go quicker, which was a good thing. Monday would seem that much closer.

'Sure, Angela! I'd love to join you guys. I have a friend in La Push I was recently thinking about visiting' very recently in fact, since I'd read Charlie's note.

'Hey, that's cool. Why don't you ring your friend and ask if they'd like to join us? Obviously they can bring some friends. I wouldn't want them to feel outnumbered…' this made me smile for two reasons: one, Angela referred to Jacob as 'they' and 'your friend' instead of trying to find out his gender, which I'm sure Jessica would have done, and two; she's just so nice!

'Ok, Angela. I'll do that'

'Ok, bye Bella. We'll pick you up around ten. Oh, we're going to head for the beach - just so your friend knows where to find us'

'Thanks Angela. See you later!'

. .

It was a short drive to La Push. It took around twenty minutes but only because there was another pick up after me - Jessica. Mike was driving and had offered me shot gun. I told him since we still had to pick up Jessica, it would be easier for me to just get in the back as his car only had two doors. I wrestled with the lever that moved the seat to let me in, while Angela pushed to get it to move. When I was finally in, Angela and I laughed all the way to Jessica's.

Jessica was in a bright mood when we pulled up outside her house. She was almost bouncing in the seat as we drove to the beach. We got there slightly earlier than the time I'd told Jacob we'd be there, so was surprised to see a group of three boys stood with him in the front waiting for us. It was harder to get out of the car than it was to get into the stupid thing. Jessica took my job - yanking at the lever - while both Angela and me attacked the seat from behind. We were finally freed and unloaded ourselves from the back seat. Some how, I managed to not lift my foot high enough to clear the car's frame and tripped on it. Luckily, Jacob had moved closer to greet me and managed to catch me without making it obvious I had fell.

'Hey, Bells! Good to see you. Still clumsy I see. You should be more careful. I might not be able to catch you next time' he smiled and hugged me. I was thinking about why that sounded familiar when I noticed how warm Jacob's skin was.

'Jeeze Jake! you're burning up! You shouldn't have agreed to come if you're sick!' he rolled his eyes.

'I'm fine Bella. Fit as a horse' he hit his chest to illustrate his health and I finally looked at him properly. He was huge. I hadn't noticed before - thinking it was just because I was sat down. But now I looked he was a beast. His arms, legs and chest were thick with muscle, he had no shirt on - not strange considering the temperature of the days air. He'd cut his hair since I'd last seen him. It was a short, spiky style, and he had a tribal tattoo on his right bicep. His friends has wandered over and I realised another reason I had not noticed how big Jacob was - his friends were just as huge. They all had the same artwork as well - in the same place.

'You guys know steroids are really bad for you right?' I was finally able to spurt out. They all just laughed.

'We're just filling out Bell's.'

'Yeah, we've all hit the growth spurt part of puberty!' one of his friends spoke. His voice was a strange comparison to his body, too boyish to fit it properly.

'That's Embry. He's a bit of a joker. And that's Quill.'

'Hey' I waved. I introduced Jacob and his group to my own. Angela and Jess were fine with them joining but Mike and Ben seemed a bit annoyed. They others planned activities like surfing. I decided to sit out, unwilling to get wet on the first dry day since I'd been here. I sat with Jacob, Quill and Embry.

They talked amongst themselves but I was back to thinking. I'd worked out why Jake's comment about catching me had sounded familiar - Edward had said almost the exact same thing when he'd caught me yesterday. I frowned - I really did fall sown way to often.

'Thinking hurting your head Bella?' Embry said, interrupting my thoughts.

'No' I sighed 'Just annoyed at how clumsy I obviously am' all three of them laughed, and I joined in. They made the action seem compulsory. We then took it in turns to tell about our own - or in Quill and Embry's case, each others - slips, trips and falls. I spoke the most, having had more mishaps than all of them put together. The air turned less warm and a slight wind picked up, making me shiver. Jake handed me a coat, which I shrugged into, noticing none of them put any more clothes on. Angela, Ben, Mike and Jess rejoined us, the sea had turned choppy, and none of them could stay up on their boards. Quill lit a bonfire which we all huddled around. I was sat between Jake and Quill and felt pleasantly toasty, but could see the others tremble before the heat of the fire warmed them.

The trip had served it's purpose - the day had gone quickly. We said good bye to Jacob and the others and promised to visit again soon. The drive home was quick. We dropped Jessica off and I moved into the front seat. When we got to my house, I said good bye to the remaining occupants and hurried indoors. It had got late and the lights were still on. Charlie, as I expected, was still up, waiting for me.

'Hey, Bells. Have a good day?'

'It was great. I mostly hung with Jake and his friends. I didn't feel like surfing. Sorry I was out so late' I'd started to feel guilty. I hadn't even rang to let him know where I was or when I had left.

'Don't worry about it. Jake rang a little while ago, saying you guys had just left.' He smiled, to reassure me I guessed.

'Oh, that was thoughtful of him. Well, I'll see you tomorrow, I'm going to bed.' I felt strangely tired, considering I'd been sat most of the day. Charlie said good night and I made my way up to my room.

I collected my night stuff and headed to the bathroom. Showering seemed like a good idea. I'd been out in the sand all day. Quickly, I dried my hair roughly with a towel and yanked a brush through it.

I woke up but kept my eyes closed - trying to make the dream linger in my head, I knew I hadn't been out long, and could hear Charlie's faint snoring from the next room. My mind lost grip on my dream's details. I watched images slip away. Getting smaller and less defined. Sighing, I rolled onto my side to try to drift off again. My eyes closed and shot back open. I sat up and stared at my rocking chair. It was still. I shook my head violently, trying to get a grip. _Of course it wasn't moving! _I thought, but I was sure it had been. My window was open, so I told myself it was the wind. I led on my back, no longer feeling tired. There was not much I could do. It was only just two. I lent over the side of my bed to grab a book and turned on the lamp on my bed-side-table. The cover was ragged, like all my books. My reading tastes were limited and I tended to read the same thing over and over. The only time I really bought new books is when the copy I own is so worn it falls apart.

I'd read the first few pages before my eyes started to get heavy again, but decided to read on. There was more chance of me falling asleep if I carried on than if I stopped and tried. Every now and then, the wind caught my curtains, catching my eye and bringing me back to alertness. After an hour, I decided to close it to increase my chances of regaining unconsciousness. I got up and shuffled to the window. I eased it down gently, remembering it squeaked with the smallest amount of movement. Bracing myself for the noise, I pushed down, but no noise came. That was odd, thought I guess Charlie might have oiled it - getting fed up with me waking him when I opened and shut it in the night, I curled back up in bed, continuing to read. Sure enough, I soon felt myself slipping back into sleep.

'Good night, Bella. Sweet dreams'


End file.
